Coming Down
by Michael224
Summary: Ed faces something he swore he would never have to. No pairings, just some Ed, Al, and Mustang bonding.


This fic will probably be a few chapters long. It will have no pairings, just some Ed/Al/Mustang bonding. My perception of Ed is that he maybe has two breaking points. One, losing Al. And two, killing another person. I never finished the 2003 anime, mainly because I got into anime late and as a result watched Brotherhood first and I just liked Brotherhood so much better that I never finished the original anime. I'm not entirely sure about the original, but Ed was so against killing in Brotherhood that he froze up while fighting Envy.

This is a prologue set during Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Spoilers up to Created Feelings but most likely nothing after that.

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

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_Prologue_

_It slid in like butter._

There was very little resistance, maybe not the kind he was expecting. He stared up at the face of his assailant, the surprised pain in the man's eyes plain. Blood stained his automail even as he pulled the blade out and the man fell.

He stared down at himself, at the blood staining both of his hands now, and the blood splattering his clothes. The stains stood out starkly, even mixing with the red of his jacket.

"Brother…"

He turned, heart beating erratically. Al. The Al he remembered from _before, _staring up at him with those wide eyes, accusing. And his mother, holding fast to Al's hand, staring down at him with the same accusations, the same disappointment.

"I always knew it would come to this," she stated sadly.

And it wouldn't stop, the whispers. The voices all mixed together, but they said the same word, over and over and over again. _Killer._ And they were all there, everyone he'd ever cared about. He folded in on himself. He screamed. Then he woke up.

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Al was staring. He sat, massive arms around his knees, as close to his brother's bed as he could get without actually getting in it and he was staring, watching for when it started again, like it had on the train ride back to Central.

He was familiar with Ed's nightmares. They didn't happen all the time, not as much as people might expect given everything that his brother had gone through his short life, but this was different. And Al didn't think these would taper off so fast.

Ed had been uncommonly silent on the train, and on their trek through Central to their room. He'd paused only to hand in his report to Mustang but hadn't even risen to the bait of the Colonel's usual teasing. Al had even seen it in Mustang's eyes. The brief flash of confusion, and maybe even concern, at Ed's lack of temper and he'd dismissed them both rather quickly.

Al knew…he knew how this would affect his brother, knew that this was worse, that the guilt would eat at him and Ed had enough guilt already.

When the first signs started, the frown on Ed's face, a fist clenching in his sheet, Al wished, again, that he could reach out and really touch his brother. Like they had been before, after Mom died but before the failed transmutation. They'd slept in the same bed then and Al felt the loss of his body keenly when he remembered that time.

The look in his brothers eyes when it had happened…it reminded him too much of the things that he sometimes wished he could forget but could never escape from.

Ed twisted in his sheets and Al shifted himself, waiting to do what little he could. Ed never talked about his nightmares when they happened but Al knew anyway. They never lasted long and it was only moments later that choked off scream tore from Ed's lips and he sat up abruptly.

Ed's eyes were wide and he stared down at his hands with something close to horror before his bangs covered his eyes.

"Brother…?" The word had barely escaped him before Ed bolted from the bed. Al stood just as he slammed the bathroom door.

Al stood for a moment before going to the door. Ed's coping methods were usually about action. When their mother died, he was determined to bring her back. When the human transmutation had failed, he'd gone straight into automail surgery and joined the military. When Nina died, he'd beaten the crap out of her father. When Al had confessed his _ridiculous _fear that he'd been made up, Ed had started a spar that, for the first time, he'd won.

Now, Al was worried about what action Ed would take in response to this.

The water was running in the bathroom. Al stood outside the door for several minutes. Ed would talk, sometimes. He wouldn't get into specifics about his nightmares but he would talk. Sometimes, it helped if Al got angry himself. Sometimes, it would knock Ed out of whatever funk he was in. But Al didn't think that was a good idea now.

"Brother?" He called, moving his hand to the doorknob. There was no answer from inside. "I'm coming in!"

The door wasn't locked, which was good. He would have preferred not to crush it. Ed was hunched over the sink, meticulously cleaning his automail, a job he had already performed twice. Al noted, also, that his flesh hand was already scrubbed raw.

"Ed?"

"I'm fine," Ed snapped but didn't stop the cleaning.

"Brother…" Al stepped forward and placed his large hands over Ed's smaller ones, stilling them.

Ed finally looked up at him, his wide eyes haunted in a way that Al hadn't seen since they'd tried to bring their mother back. "I can't get it off."

And Al didn't have to ask what Ed was talking about. _Blood. _When Ed pulled his hands from Al's and started that cleaning again, Al definitely _felt _just as helpless as he had after the failed transmutation.

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Next chapter will probably jump back. After all, this is just a prologue.


End file.
